


the end of eras

by lethargicProfessor



Series: Ghost!AU [1]
Category: D.Gray-man
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Gen, ghost au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-24
Updated: 2015-10-24
Packaged: 2018-04-27 20:36:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 8
Words: 10,932
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5063185
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lethargicProfessor/pseuds/lethargicProfessor
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Au where Lavi is a newly dead ghost, who is “haunting” Lena, but is basicly just being helpful, getting stuff off high shelves for her, locking her doors at night, turning off all her lights for her at night, Kanda is the ghost of her long dead bro and has been watching over her since she w born, and Allen is her b friend who is helping lEna try to figure out what's going on w all the paranormal stuff around her</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. suspicious character

**Author's Note:**

  * For [kandayuu](https://archiveofourown.org/users/kandayuu/gifts).



> This AU was a prompt from kandayuu on tumblr, based on this post: http://kandayuu.tumblr.com/post/115008854934

“I think there’s something in my house.”

Allen stared at his phone for a second, struggling to process what he was hearing. Lenalee sounded so calm on the line that he wasn’t quite sure what to say, and he scrambled to find an appropriate answer. “I—Are you alright?”

She let out a frustrated sigh, and he could vaguely hear rustling from her end. “There’s just something in my house and I don’t want to be alone here. Can you please come over?”

“Y-yeah, of course!” Allen glanced around, swearing under his breath when his keys didn’t magically appear in front of him. “Let me grab my keys and I’ll be there in ten minutes, tops, alright?”

“Could you stay on the phone with me?” More rustling, almost drowning out her quiet plea. “I’m kind of freaking out a little…”

“Sure. Yeah. What happened?” He hurried out his room and down the stairs, snatching up the keys from the kitchen table. Timothy looked up from his homework, a question clear in his eyes as Allen waved him off from the front door.

Lenalee sighed again, mumbling into the phone. Allen frowned, climbing into his car. “What was that? I couldn’t year you.”

“I _said_ I heard a door slam when I came home,” she repeated. “And I tried to look around but there was nothing there.”

“Did you see anything weird?” Allen thumbed the speaker on his phone, pulling out of the driveway quickly. “Shouldn’t you maybe call the cops?”

“They wouldn’t do anything. There’s no one in my house.” Again, she sounded so certain, so nonchalant about it that it made Allen’s head spin.

“So then…I don’t get it…” He admitted, tapping his fingers against the steering wheel. “If there’s no one in your house then what’s the problem?”

“Because there’s some _thing_ in my house.”

The implication hung heavy in the air, but implication of _what_ , Allen didn’t know. “Like an animal?”

“Animals don’t slam doors shut on people,” Lenalee said. “It’s…I told you about the weird things missing around the house, didn’t I?”

“Umm…” He struggled to remember, squeezing the steering wheel. “Um, the missing things, right?”

“Things going missing and then popping up in different places.” Lenalee clarified. “But it’s more than that. I don’t know. It’s just weird here lately. It almost feels like I’m being watched.”

“I’m pretty sure cops are better equipped to handle that kind of stuff than I am,” Allen said, pulling into her street. “I’m almost there, alright?”

“Yeah, I see you. Thanks, Allen.” The call disconnected with a click.

She was sitting on the curb, knees drawn up to her chest, and stood as he pulled up into her driveway. Despite what she had just said, she looked more annoyed than concerned about the possibilities of a stalker.

Allen was quick to point it out too, looking up at her house. She shrugged, crossing her arms. “I don’t think it’s a stalker, Allen.”

“What is it then?” He frowned, movement catching his attention out of the corner of his eye. A curtain fluttered in one of the windows. “Uh…”

“Yeah, it does that.” Lenalee sighed in a resigned sort of voice, leading the way to the front door. “Come on.”

“Are you sure we shouldn’t maybe call for some help? Backup? Link doesn’t look it but he works out.” Allen glanced down the street apprehensively, the setting sun throwing everything into shades of fiery red and gold. A small breeze picked at his clothes, but other than the rustling of leaves, there wasn’t a sound.

Lenalee shoved the door open, hesitating at the threshold. “Can you…?”

“Right, yeah.” Clearing his throat and bracing himself for anything, Allen stepped past her into the house. “I think this is the first time I’ve actually been in your house.”

It was a neat little place, the tastefully decorated living room disturbed only by a stack of books on the coffee table. He slowly made his way to the kitchen, tiptoeing to avoid giving himself away. He could hear Lenalee behind him, her shoes squeaking faintly on the tiled floor.

The kitchen was empty, the curtain from earlier undisturbed. The kitchen was a bit messier than the living room, but felt more lived in; more textbooks were strewn across the table, along with an open notebook and a purple mug. The fridge had a magnetic calendar, and from the entryway he could see colorful notes tacked onto it. “Nothing here,” he reported, glancing back.

Lenalee nodded stiffly, fists clenched tight around an umbrella. At his raised eyebrow, she shrugged. “Just in case?”

“I don’t think an umbrella will do much against a home intruder,” he murmured, walking out of the kitchen. From the living room, he stepped into a hallway, shivering suddenly. “Hey, is there a hall light?”

The light flicked on, and Allen continued along. “Thanks, Lena. Which way?”

“Allen?” Her voice caught, and he turned back curiously. She was standing at the entrance of the kitchen, eyes wide, nowhere near the hall. Nowhere near the light.

If Allen had been in a horror movie, he would have turned in slow motion to look at the light, and either would have screamed in terror or been murdered in a horribly cliché fashion.

Instead, he stumbled out of the hall, reaching out behind him to grab at Lenalee. She gripped his arm, fingers digging into his skin. “This is what I meant! Weird _things_ going on when no one’s around!”

As if to emphasize it, a door slammed down the hall, making him jump. Lenalee smothered a shriek into his shoulder, her knuckles white on his arm. He winced, carefully prying her fingers off him, and snatched the umbrella for good measure. “I-It’s fine, Lenalee. It’s fine! I’ll…I’ll go after them, and you get ready to call the cops, alright?”

Hefting the umbrella onto his shoulder like a baseball bat, Allen approached the door. His pulse pounded in his throat, and he took a shuddery breath as he gripped the doorknob. “Where does this lead?”

“Guest bedroom.” Lenalee walked over slowly, wound tighter than a spring. “There’s a window but there’s bars, so if… _if_ someone is in there, they won’t be able to get out.”

“Right.” Steeling himself, Allen turned the knob, pushing the door open, umbrella at the ready.

The room was empty, and a cursory glance told him there wasn’t much in which an intruder could hide in. As a precaution, he crouched down to keep under the bed, but all he found was a couple of dust bunnies and a hair tie.

Lenalee slipped into the room, poking around, but there wasn’t much to the room in the first place besides a bed and a small dresser. Frustrated, she flopped on the bed, digging her palms into her eyes. Allen followed suit, dropping the umbrella on the floor.

“I don’t know what’s happening,” she whispered, reaching back blindly to grasp at Allen. He obliged, squeezing her hand reassuringly. “It wasn’t that bad at first…just little things missing. I thought I was just getting caught up with school, losing track of things, you know?”

“But then lights started flicking on when I wasn’t home, or doors that I thought were open were closed all of a sudden…It’s _always_ cold now…” She rolled over, propping herself up on her elbows to look at Allen. “I don’t know what to do.”

“I…” His throat was dry as an idea wormed itself into his head. “I don’t…know what to tell you, Lena…what do you think is going on? Did something happen?”

“No…not that I know of.” She squeezed his hand, frowning. “It feels like it did when my brother died.”

And there it was. He wasn’t sure how superstitious Lenalee was, and wasn’t sure if it was the paranoia talking, but the idea seemed to have taken root nonetheless.

He could feel her hands shaking as she continued her thought. “I don’t remember much…I was too little to really get what was happening, but after Yuu died, the house felt weird. Komui didn’t like talking about it. He would get upset. I don’t blame him, looking back, but it felt…” She faltered, struggling to find the words. “It felt like this.”

“So…” He cleared his throat, rubbing circles into her hands with his thumb. “So are you saying maybe that there’s a ghost in the house?”

“I don’t think there’s a ‘maybe’ about it,” she whispered, and they watched as the bedroom door swung shut.  


	2. ex machina

Lenalee considered herself to be pretty rational up until the day she found out there was a ghost, or multiple ghosts, in her home. That was more enough to put a damper on her skepticism.

Still, when she had called Alma for advice, she hadn’t expected for her brother’s best friend to recommend gathering a ghost hunting kit.

It had been about a week since the slamming door incident, and even though nothing major had happened around the house, Lenalee still felt uncomfortable being there alone. She spent a couple of days with some friends, but she couldn’t avoid her house forever.

That led to Alma, which led to her enlisting Allen in an effort to build a ghost hunting kit from scratch. The idea had seemed maybe plausible at the time, but sitting in Allen’s room, surrounded by books and machine parts, she was starting to have some doubts.

“Alright, what was on that list again?” Allen walked into his room, setting a dusty cardboard box on his bed. Lenalee brushed some of the dust off, wiping the residue on her jeans as she thumbed through her phone.

“Alma said that we needed something to record with to make an EVP recorder.” She hummed, skimming over the message. “A voice recorder or something like that.”

Allen puffed out a sigh, digging through the box. “Don’t have any recorders. I doubt there’s any in the house, actually. Is there something else we could use?”

“No idea.” After shooting a quick message to Alma, Lenalee stretched out across Allen’s bed. “Do you think this is a good idea? Trying to talk to them?” She sighed at Allen’s noncommittal, ‘I-don’t-know’ sound, burying her face into his pillow. “What if it’s something dangerous?”

“If it is, we could get you out of there.” She heard him digging through the box, setting more machine parts on the bed. “But you said they haven’t hurt you, right?”

“Not yet. But Amityville was a thing, right?” She rolled over, squeezing his pillow to her chest.

He chuckled, picking through some promising parts. “Please don’t base your life choices on a horror movie and its extremely terrible remake.”

Lenalee’s phone chirped, and she swiped the screen. “Alma says, ‘You can use cassette or CD players if they have a record function, or buy a recorder online.’. Also says to not be rude to the ghosts.”

“I wouldn’t dream of it.” Allen winked, dumping the spare parts on his bed into the box they came from. “I don’t know about you, but I haven’t owned a CD player since the early 2000s.”

“We could buy one.” Lenalee scrolled through her phone, pulling up search results for cassette players. “They shouldn’t be too expensive, right?”

Allen scoffed, kicking the box under his bed. “If we’re going to buy that, we may as well go for the actual kit, and I know I’m not desperate enough to communicate with Casper and Co. to drop 100 dollars on them.”

Lenalee made a face at him, rolling off the bed. “Then what? We can’t just give up.”

“We can brainstorm more after dinner.” Allen walked out, waiting for Lenalee out in the hall. “If we can’t figure something out, we can ask your friend again, right?”

“Alma wouldn’t mind,” she said, walking down the stairs. “It’s been a while since we’ve talked, but it’s alright.”

She glanced back, frowning at Allen. He was standing in front of a closed door in front of the landing, tilting his head thoughtfully. “What’s up?”

“Maybe Cross has something that could work. He’s a packrat.” With a devious grin, Allen crouched down to the lock, slipping a thin package from his boot.

Lenalee walked over, peeking over his shoulder. “Why do you have a lock pick kit on you?”

“The real question is, why don’t you.” He set to work, sticking his tongue out in concentration. “Don’t worry, I’ll get this open in a second.”

“You worry me sometimes.” She leaned back, watching Allen work quietly, listening to the faint sounds drifting up from the kitchen. “Shouldn’t there be a key around?”

“Cross keeps it on him. Doesn’t stop us, though.” He grumbled under his breath, freezing as footsteps thundered up the stairs.

Timothy jumped the last few steps, striking a pose on the landing. Allen rolled his eyes, returning to the lock. “Hi, Tim. Do you need something?”

“ _Maman_ said that dinner will be ready soon,” the younger boy reported, sidling closer to Lenalee. She smiled, patting his head. “Also, she wants to know if you know when that rat bastard is coming home.”

“She said that verbatim, did she?” Allen asked, squinting at the lock as he wiggled the pick.

Timothy snickered. “More or less.”

“Well, in that case…” He cheered softly as the final tumbler fell in place, pushing the door open with a grin. “Tell her, alright, we’ll be down in a minute, and no, I don’t know when Cross will come back.”

Timothy saluted in response, hurrying back to the kitchen. Allen shook his head after him, but cleared his throat, mock-bowing to Lenalee as he held the door open for her. “Madam.”

“Thank you, kind sir.” Laughing, she walked into the room, looking around. “Is this Cross’s study?”

“Yep.” Allen shut the door behind him, stowing away his lock picks. “Just make sure not to move anything too much. He’ll notice.”

“And he won’t notice you picked the lock?” Still, Lenalee picked a corner and began digging through mountains of books and papers, peeking into boxes filled with bottles of booze or various bits of machinery.

Allen gasped somewhere off to her left, and she caught him as he slammed a box closed with more force than necessary. “What? What is it?”

“You don’t want to know.” Shuddering, he scooted away from the box, wringing his hands. “There’s so much shit in here, it’s going to be impossible to find it.”

“Find what, exactly?” Lenalee squeaked, wincing in sympathy at the spectacular crash of books Allen caused when he jerked up at Cross’s voice. The redhead raised an eyebrow, leaning against the door, blocking their only escape route.

Allen cleared his throat, struggling to right the towering pile of books he had knocked over. “H-hi, Cross! Didn’t think you’d be back yet.”

“I can see that.” Cross stared, glancing around the study. “So, besides making a mess, what were you doing in here?”

“We, uh…” Allen gulped, glancing at Lenalee. She shrugged weakly, helping stack some of the books. “We were looking for a cassette player.”

“What for?”  He crossed his arms, the barest hints of a smirk on his lips.

“A project?”

“Just ‘cause…”

Lenalee sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose, the beginnings of a headache pounding at her temples. “Mister Marian? We just needed to borrow a cassette player or something to record with for a little bit…”

“We’re making an EVP recorder,” Allen admitted, standing. “We thought you might have something stashed in your mountain of junk.”

“Sorry about the mess.” Lenalee said, using Allen to pull herself up. “We’ll just go.”

Cross stared at them for a beat, sighing as he made his way to the closet. “You should have just asked, brat.” After a quick dig, he produced a small recorder with a flourish, holding it above Allen’s head. “Make sure you don’t break it.”

“We won’t! We’ll be careful!” Allen tried to grab at the recorder, fuming at Cross when he moved it away. Lenalee nodded, holding her hands out.

Recorder in hand, Lenalee and Allen marched out of the room, excitedly planning their next move. Cross followed them out, shutting the door behind him. “Allen.”

Allen looked up, smile sliding clear off his face at the smirk Cross shot his way. “If you break into my room again, Miss Lee will be using that EVP on _you_.”


	3. your ghost

“Have I mentioned how much I hate coming to your house?” Allen grunted, pushing heavily against the door. The door was unlocked, Lenalee had made sure of that, but he couldn’t get it to open.

He wished he could say it wasn’t a common occurrence in her house.

Lenalee shrugged, pushing him aside. The door swung open easily under her touch. “You really should be used to it by now.”

“Used to it? Yes.” He darted in through the open door before it smashed shut on his face like previous times. “That doesn’t mean I have to like it.”

Lenalee laughed fondly, but even Allen could see the dark circles under her eyes as she sat down in the living room. He followed, looking around absently. “You haven’t been sleeping well.”

“It’s alright,” she brushed it off, setting her bag down beside her. “It happens.”

“Have you found anything out?” Allen sat down on the floor, mindful of the tendency for Lenalee’s furniture to move out from under him. The coffee table nudged against his back, but it was a halfhearted effort.

“Nothing, really. I tried asking around with the neighbors to see if they knew anything about who lived here before, or if anything weird had happened, but as far as they know, it’s…just a normal house.” Lenalee sighed, closing her eyes. “I wanted to ask Komui, but…”

“It’s not easy to bring up.” Allen nodded, pulling out his laptop. He hadn’t been on board at all when Lenalee asked him for help dealing with the ghosts in her home, but he had to admit he had warmed up to the idea.

Not to the ghosts, though. They were pains.

“Do you want something to drink? I can make tea.” Lenalee nudged Allen’s knee with her foot. He shook his head, shooting a wary look around the living room.

“I’m fine, thanks…” He still had burns from the last time. He wasn’t sure why, but Lenalee’s ghosts _really_ hated him.

“If I ask them to stop, they’ll leave you alone,” she said matter-of-factly, standing. “Come on, I’ll show you what I’ve found so far.”

They made it to Lenalee’s room with few disturbances, though Allen did get extremely acquainted with her closet door. Her bedroom, normally in pristine condition, was strewn about with newspaper clippings and old books, and one wall (previously decorated with pictures of family and friends) had been taken over by a web of red string and printouts taped randomly over a large map.   

“I think you’ve been watching too much _CSI_ , Lena,” Allen said, walking over to the wall. She smiled sheepishly, trying to toss everything on her floor into her closet.

“I just want to find out what’s going on.” She managed to shut the closet despite its contents and walked over to the web, tracing along the lines to the different fliers and printouts.

“I tried looking for missing persons information, just in case, you know? I found a few, but there’s no way to know if they’re all okay or not.” Lenalee twanged one of the red strings, sighing. “And the house’s history isn’t that old, so I couldn’t find anything useful there. No one’s died in the house, at least.”

“That’s generally a good thing.” Allen reminded her, looking through the missing persons fliers she had tacked on her wall. A few were crossed out, their strings connecting to different places on the map. A couple of others had question marks across them, notes scrawled across the margins.

One in particular caught his eye; the picture itself was a grainy mess, but despite the quality, the subject’s red hair was clearly visible. Allen tilted his head, reading the information curiously.

“Huh…”

The closet door banged open suddenly, and they both screamed, clinging to each other as random contents spilled out.

Allen cleared his throat, letting go of his death grip on Lenalee. “Sorry…”

“It’s my fault.” She smiled faintly, walking over to clean up. “Keep looking, I won’t take long.”

“Are you sure?” Lenalee nodded, waving him off, sorting through the mess on her floor. “Alright…”

Allen busied himself looking through the books stacked on her bed. Most of them were about paranormal activities, hauntings in their city, or theories about why paranormal phenomena happened in the first place. Not very useful, in his opinion, but if it helped her feel like she was getting somewhere, he wasn’t going to comment.

“Maybe you should call in an exorcist,” he mused instead, flipping through a book on local myths and legends. A book from her desk (which was nowhere near the ledge, thank you) tumbled off, landing heavily on his foot.

“They don’t like it when you joke like that,” Lenalee sighed, looking up at his startled swear. Allen hissed in pain, flopping back on her bed.

“You’re being haunted by at least one asshole cat,” he groaned, rolling on her bed. “I should get you a dog to keep it away. Or lend you Tim. Tim would love this kind of shit.”

“Tim the boy or Tim the dog?” Lenalee finished cleaning up, sitting on Allen’s back. He wheezed, splayed out like a starfish.

“Maybe both. Mostly Tim the dog.” He responded, voice muffled by her comforter. “Tim the boy sleeps with a nightlight whenever he watches _The Mummy_.”

Allen’s stomach rumbled, and he wiggled in an effort to get Lenalee off. “Can we order a pizza now? We need to fuel up before we resume our ghost hunting adventures.”

“Sure,” she laughed, sliding off him. “Let me just wash my hands. You can go ahead and order if you want.”

He stretched as she walked to the en suite bathroom, scrambling up at her startled shout. “Allen!”

“What is it?” He stumbled into the bathroom, staring at the mirror. Or rather, the message in the mirror. He coughed into his fist, struggling to find the words to properly express himself.

“I…Part of me wants to think we’re being _Punk’d_ ,” he began slowly. “Is that still a thing? Because if it is, this is it.”

He received an elbow to the ribs for his contribution, but he really had no other way to explain the absolute nightmare scrawls across her mirror.  “Your ghosts have bad taste.”

“Pepperoni pizza,” Lenalee read slowly, tilting her head. “Thin crust…no, they scratched that out. Pineapples? Black olives? Anchovies, gross.”

Allen reached out, swiping a finger across the red letters, lifting the residue to his nose to sniff. “It’s…lipstick? I think? It smells like makeup.”

Lenalee’s brows furrowed, and she looked around the small bathroom as if she could see the ghosts. “If you used my good lipstick I’m going to destroy you!”

The house was silent, and they both peeked out into her bedroom to see if there had been a change there. “Maybe they’re in another room?”

Lenalee glanced back at the mirror, pouting at a new message scrawled at the bottom.

_‘Sorry_ _❤ !’_

“Whatever,” she huffed, stomping out of the bathroom. “Let’s go order something to eat, Allen.”

Allen nodded, turning to follow, glancing one last time at the message in the mirror.

It might have been his eyes playing tricks on him, but he saw two figures out of the corner of his eye. One with long, black hair, and the other with bright red.


	4. it had to be you

Kanda hadn’t been a great person when he was alive. Granted, he wasn’t _terrible_ , but he wasn’t a stellar role model either.

Still, he didn’t think he was so bad as to warrant living (?) the rest of his life with the human embodiment of a mosquito; loud, obnoxious, and above all, _thirsty as hell_.

“Leave my sister alone,” Kanda growled, wishing that he had the capability of touching other ghosts. It would make strangling Lavi so much more satisfying, knowing he wouldn’t die so he could keep doing it over and over.

Lavi stuck his tongue out at him, drawing a happy face on her bathroom mirror. “I’m just tryin’ to make her feel a little better, Yuu.”

“Some creep ghost leaving messages in her mirror won’t make her feel better.” He reached out to drag Lavi out of the bathroom, swearing when his hand passed through the other’s shoulder.

The bottles on the counter rattled ominously, making Lavi tsk at him softly. “Behave~!”

Kanda growled under his breath, walking out of the bathroom. He wished he could leave the general vicinity of the house, even for a moment. He would kill to be able to cross the street. At least there, he would get a break from having Lavi around.

Of course, that would mean leaving Lavi alone with his sister. Annoyed, Kanda sat by Lenalee’s window, trying his best to ignore her muffled sobs. It burned, not being able to do anything to make her feel better, to hug her and tell her everything was going to be okay like he used to when she was young.

He reached out hesitantly, hand hovering over her head, dropping it limply at his side when she snuffled. He couldn’t touch her, and even if he could, she wouldn’t feel it. A wasted effort on both fronts.

Kanda gave a start as a small, tinkling melody began to play in the room. Lenalee jerked up from her bed, tangled in the sheets, looking around for the source of the sound.

Lavi coughed, stepping away from the music box on her dresser. It had a thin layer of dust, but still played well enough, a small ballerina twirling on her stand as the cheerful tune filled the room.

Lenalee scrubbed her face with her sleeve, shoving the sheets away as she picked her way to the music box. She brushed the dust away as best she could, sitting on the floor with the box in her lap, carefully winding it up again as the melody died away.

“I gave that to her for her birthday,” Kanda muttered, crossing his arms as he watched the tears stream down her face again. “She was five.”

Lavi was uncharacteristically sober as they watched Lenalee wind the music box up again. “That must’ve been nice…”

“She wanted to dance.” Kanda sighed, glancing out the window. “It’s all she ever wanted to do until…”

“You died.” Lavi nodded, and in the glass’s reflection, Kanda could see him poke through the books on Lenalee’s desk. The collection of books on criminal justice were neatly stacked beside a couple of books on paranormal activity, the newest additions to Lenalee’s reading list.

“Yeah…”

Lenalee closed the music box carefully, making her way back to bed. She set the music box on the windowsill, brushing the top gently before returning to bed.

From his perch, Kanda could see the digital clock on her desk flash _4:17 A.M._ in bright red. Her alarm would be going off in a couple of hours, and she couldn’t afford to miss more classes.

“I wish there was something we could do to help,” Lavi murmured, watching as she settled into a fitful sleep.

“If you stopped dicking around here it would help,” Kanda pointed out, winding the music box up. The ballerina spun as the music picked up again, and Lenalee visibly relaxed.

Lavi shot him a sour look, crossing his arms. “You know as well as I do that I can’t leave. And anyways, I can’t just leave her like this. She’s hurting, she needs someone.”

“She _has_ someone, idiot. She has me.” Kanda frowned, squinting at the redhead. He kept shooting furtive glances at Lenalee, squirming where he stood. Kanda felt a gnawing suspicion grow in his chest as he continued to stare.

“Well, you haven’t done a lot to help,” Lavi shot back, looking away. “So someone’s gotta try.”

“You like her.” The statement sounded like an accusation, and even Lavi seemed startled at his tone. Kanda resisted the urge to pummel him, if only because he knew it would be pointless to try. “You _like_ her.”

Lavi scoffed, visibly flustered. “N-no I don’t!”

“Why not? My sister’s amazing!” Kanda realized he sounded ridiculous and _too_ much like Komui for his taste, but he couldn’t help but be a little offended on Lenalee’s behalf as he stepped towards Lavi.

The books on Lenalee’s desk wobbled as Lavi sputtered, waving his hands as he scrambled to explain. “That’s not what I meant! I do like her, but not _like_ like her!”

Kanda raised an eyebrow, almost looming over the redhead despite the fact that the other had a few inches on him. Lavi wheezed, glancing at Lenalee. She was finally sleeping, and he thanked his lucky stars that she couldn’t hear them.

Granted, if she could, it would solve a lot of their problems.

“What do you want me to say, man?” Lavi whined, backing into Lenalee’s desk, so distracted he phased through it. “S-she’s great! She’s amazing and kind and sweet…and beautiful and…”

He stared at Kanda, dumbstruck. “Oh, fuck me.”

Kanda was torn between feeling smug at being right, or being horrified because he _was_ right. Now he knew how Komui felt.

Really, being dead was more trouble than it was worth.


	5. chatterbox

“I hate this kid.”

Lavi raised an eyebrow, hovering awkwardly near the couch as Lenalee and her little friend walked inside the house He watched them putter around the entrance, eventually turning to look up at Kanda. “Why?”

Kanda shrugged, arms crossed sullenly, a horrific scowl on his face. He looked more like a demon than a ghost, but Lavi didn’t think it was a good idea to point that out. “I just don’t like him.”

“Is it because he’s always with your sister?” It didn’t take a genius to figure out, really; the way Kanda acted with _him_ was proof enough, and Lavi was incorporeal at best. The kid could actually touch Lenalee if he wanted, and that was so much worse in Kanda’s book, apparently.

Kanda huffed irritably, and the picture frames in the hall rattled. Lavi tutted at him softly, grinning at the obscene gesture shot his way.

The kid was similarly unimpressed, sighing as he collapsed on Lenalee’s couch. “Oh, fuck off. You’re not scary anymore, so why don’t you go piss off.”

“Be nice to the ghosts, Allen,” Lenalee murmured, marching past them down the hall. “Remember what Alma said.”

“They started it.” Allen rolled his eyes, tossing something on the coffee table. “So we’re doing this today? Are you sure?”

“We might as well.” Lenalee’s voice drifted down the hall, returning with a notebook tucked under her arm. “The recording, and we said we would have a backup, right?”

“Yeah. Cross said it was important to have various tests running to increase accuracy. “ Allen made a gagging nose, sitting up in his seat. “I hate when he gets like that. Sometimes I manage to actually forget he’s kind of smart, you know? That he has a degree. A doctorate, even!”

“I think he’s more than just ‘kinda’ smart if he has a Ph.D.” Lenalee smiled, setting the notebook down on the table, tucking her legs under her as she sat down.

Lavi wandered closer, peering at the small silver rectangle Allen had thrown down earlier. “It’s a recorder, I think.”

“What’s that for?” Kanda asked, perching himself on the couch’s armrest. Lavi shrugged, shivering when Allen’s arm phased through him to grab a pen.

“Him having a degree doesn’t automatically make him smart. Is it cold in here or is it just me?” Allen shook out his arm, hunching his shoulders in his coat. “It’s freezing.”

“I feel fine?” Lenalee looked around, reaching behind the couch to tug a blanket over. “Here. So, what is our second test going to be?”

“We don’t have any special recording equipment, so that’s out of the question.” Allen mulled it over for a second, tapping the pen against his chin. “What would you feel more comfortable with?”

“The pen thing? Where they use you to communicate?” Lenalee mimed writing on the notebook, sticking her tongue out at Allen’s grin. “You know what I mean. That thing.”

“Automatic writing.” Allen said, twirling the pen between his fingers. “That’s what Cross said it was.”

“No offense, but how does he know all this stuff?” Lenalee asked, flipping through the notebook to find an empty page.

Allen shrugged. “I’ve stopped trying to understand that man, honestly. Cross knows a lot of useless information, and sometimes it’s helpful. Mostly it’s not, but whatever.”

“Right.” Lenalee wrinkled her nose, sliding the notebook across the table. “Here. You write, and I’ll do the recorder.”

“I can’t. You need to use your non-dominant hand if you do this to prove that it’s not actually you writing. At least, that’s what it’s supposed to be.” Allen smiled sweetly, sliding off his chair onto the floor. “Sorry.”

Lenalee frowned, head tilted in confusion. “So you can’t…why?”

“I’m ambidextrous.” He wiggled his fingers, spinning the pen over to her. “So it won’t count.”

“Fine.” She snatched the pen up, holding the recorder out. “You do the recording then.”

“We just ask them questions, right?” Allen fussed with the recorder, squinting at the small buttons on the side. “No problem.”

“Just remember to give them time to respond.” Lenalee cleared her throat, holding the pen loosely in her left hand. “Ready?”

“Yeah, sure.” Sighing, Allen turned the recorder on, placing it slowly on the table. “I’m ninety percent sure that it’s recording.”

Lenalee shot him a withering look, clearing her throat again. “If…If anyone is in this room, please…communicate with us? We don’t want to hurt you. We just want to talk.”

Surprised, Lavi jumped, staring at the recorder. Kanda sat up straighter, staring at his sister. “Uh…”

“Should I say something?” Lavi sat down across from Lenalee, looking up at Kanda. He was still scowling, but looked intrigued nonetheless.

“If you want.”

Allen stared blankly at the recorder. “How do we know if they’ve responded?”

“We don’t. Not until we check the recordings, I guess.” Lenalee tapped her notebook with the back of the pen lightly. “Let’s just keep asking questions.”

“What if there’s no one here? Not trying to be a downer or anything, but just saying.” The kid dropped back on the chair, pulling the blanket up to his chin.

Lenalee ignored him, scratching lines into the notebook. “If someone is here, please tell us, um…”

“Your name,” Allen suggested, tucking the edges of the blanket under his body. “Or your age. We don’t want any old creepers watching Lenalee sleep.”

“What the fuck, kid.” Kanda snapped, jumping to his feet. The coffee table shook, and a door slammed in the distance. The slight chill grew, goosebumps forming on Lenalee’s bare arms.

“Well, that answers your question,” Lenalee whispered, turning back to the hall. Allen huffed, burying his nose into the blanket.

Lavi reached over to tug on the blanket, eyeing Lenalee’s pen. “Are you going to write something to her?”

“Dunno.” Kanda sat back, disappearing from view for a second before appearing beside his sister. He eyed the paper uneasily. “Usually I can’t touch her. I just go right through.”

“Maybe this time will be different.” Lavi manage to pull on the blanket, making the kid squawk indignantly.

Lenalee shushed him, staring pointedly at the recorder. “If someone is here, please…tell us how we can help you.”

Lavi leaned into the recorder, staring at the little red light. It probably wasn’t even working, but…He cleared his throat, struggling to find the words. How _could_ they help him? Was it even possible?

Before he could manage to get anything out, Allen gasped, scrambling to his feet. “Lena!”

“What?” Startled, she looked around, pen slipping from her limp fingers. Kanda looked mildly surprised, scooting away as the two living kids made a mad grab for the notebook.

“I didn’t write that,” Lenalee whispered, staring at the scrawled hiragana in awe. “I swear I didn’t, Allen.”

“I…believe you?” He tilted his head, squinting at the characters on the page. “I can’t read that, unfortunately. What is it?”

“It’s Japanese. It’s been a while since I’ve seen this, though…” Lenalee frowned, tracing a finger down the script. “I know for sure that’s ‘lotus blossom,’ and um…”

“That’s awfully poetic for a ghost, isn’t it?” Allen dropped his chin on her shoulder, peering curiously at the words. “Does it mean something to you?”

“If it’s what I think it is….”

“What is it?” Lavi stared at Kanda, frowning as he walked off. “Kanda?”

“It’s none of your business.” His departure immediately lightened the room, the cold disappearing in a snap. The two didn’t notice, still poring over the notebook, the recorder left on and unattended at the end of the table.

Well…they _did_ ask how they could help…

Allen and Lenalee didn’t notice the recorder’s disappearance until hours later, and couldn’t seem to figure out how the device’s memory had been filled with multiple files in its absence. 


	6. the fear of falling apart

Fall brought with it a lull in the ghost-hunting. With two weeks off, Allen jetted off to visit family, and Lenalee didn’t feel comfortable poking the proverbial bears by herself.

It was a good thing they stopped when they did, too. A day after their recording session, Komui arrived in a flurry of tears and presents. She didn’t say it, but she appreciated him being around. It was easier to deal with her invisible houseguests with him around.

(Not that she was going to tell him about the ghosts. That was a terrible idea on so many levels.)

So she spent her break following her brother around the house, much like she did when she was younger. It was nice.

The ghosts even settled down for a couple of days, their mischief down to a minimum. Lenalee still found a couple of things out of place, and once saw her door creak shut, but other than that, everything was normal.

Komui didn’t seem to notice anything out of the ordinary, puttering around the rooms with a coffee mug and a cheerful tune. Lenalee watched him, tucked into a corner of the couch with her laptop balanced on her knees. “It’s great being home again!”

“It’s great having you back,” Lenalee smiled, tabbing out of her windows to reach the skype bubble flashing in her toolbar. “How’s your work coming along?”

“Better now, actually.” Komui disappeared from view for a second, digging through their hall closet. “Since Bak joined the team, things are moving along.”

Lenalee yawned, moving to answer Allen’s message. “Are you two dating yet?”

“I don’t see how that’s any of your concern,” Komui sniffed, walking back out into the living room. His ears were red, though, so Lenalee didn’t need an answer to know.

She smiled indulgently at her brother, scrolling down to read her messages. “You should have invited him over.”

“No one asked you.” Komui walked over, flicking her ear as he passed by. Lenalee squeaked, slapping a hand over the injured area. “ _You’re_ not dating anyone, right?”

“I’m married to my education.” Lenalee stuck her tongue out at her brother’s retreating back, gathering her things to migrate to the kitchen. “It’s a long term relationship and we are very happy together.”

“Well, I’m glad to hear that.” Komui poked through the pantry and cabinets while Lenalee set up on the kitchen table, humming under his breath. “And your friend? Allen, right? How is he?”

“He’s fine. Visiting family over break.” Allen messaged her again, the persistent skype noise catching her attention. “He comes by sometimes. Oh! Speaking of, Alma might come by in a couple of weeks.”

“Really?” Komui sounded surprised, peeking at her computer on his way to the fridge. “That’s nice of them. The last time they came by was…”

“Yuu’s funeral.” Lenalee covered her screen, waiting for Komui to move away. “Yeah. We started talking again recently, so I invited them over. That’s okay, right?”

“Of course. They’re practically family. I’ll see if I can come by again to see them.” Allen _blooped_ at her again insistently, the messages popping up in the corner of her screen.

“I’ll let you know,” Lenalee murmured, staring at the string of messages Allen left.

            _-help_

_-my cousins are killing me sos_

_-if I don’t come back in one piece I’ll b sure to haunt you too_

_\- :D_

_-hello???_

_-don’t be mad I promise I’ll be a good ghost_

Lenalee snorted, shaking her head.

_please don’t haunt me too? there’s enough ghosts living here already but thank you-_

“What have you been doing, besides school work?” Komui asked, the sound of a knife hitting a cutting board filling the room.

Lenalee frowned, waiting for Allen’s response. “Um…nothing, really. Just doing a project with Allen.”

“What kind of project?”

            _-speaking of, any news on your paranormal activity? :p_

“Just a research thing?” Lenalee shrugged. “Like…history of the city and stuff like that. It’s kind of neat.”

_I sent the files to Alma, but they said some of them were corrupted so they would have to work on them a little longer. that’s all I got.-_

“That sounds interesting.” They fell silent, the sounds of typing and chopping filling the room. It wasn’t awkward, necessarily, but Lenalee felt like Komui was trying to bring something up. In the meantime, Allen was keeping up running commentary on his own.

            _-lame_

_-don’t worry about it, we’ll figure it out_

_-i still don’t know how the thing filled up? cross said it could hold up to eight hours of memory and we only lost it for two_

“Lenalee?” She looked up from her screen, fingers pausing on the keyboard. Komui watched her for a moment, an unreadable expression in his face. He breathed in slowly, closing his eyes. “Why don’t you come live with me?”

Lenalee frowned, lowering her screen to stare at her brother. “We’ve gone over this…”

“I know you don’t want to deal with transferring,” Komui waved his hand, leaning back on the counter. “I know, but…I feel terrible leaving you here alone.”

“I’m not alone. Not really.” A dull thump sounded out in the living room as if on cue. Lenalee ignored it, hoping Komui would too. “Allen’s over all the time, and Emilia’s always checking in on me too. And Miss Lotto down the street comes by to make sure I don’t need anything. I’m alright.”

“I would feel better knowing you were close by,” Komui pressed, sliding his glasses off to clean them on his shirt. “I just…I don’t want to lose you too.” He cleared his throat, turning away from Lenalee. She could still hear the crack in his voice.

“You won’t…” She held her breath, and it felt like the house did too. It was rare for Komui to bring Yuu up; Lenalee had been too young to understand, but Komui hadn’t been much older than Kanda had ben when he died. It had been rougher for him. “Komui, you won’t lose me.”

“You don’t know that.” He didn’t sound angry, just defeated. “We don’t know what’ll happen to us. Our parents…and Yuu…no one expected that. I just can’t lose the last of my family.”

“Could you at least consider it?” He whispered, scrubbing at his face with his sleeve. “I’d stay here, you know that, but work….” He coughed, sniffling loudly. “And this house has too many memories…”

“Komui…” Lenalee shut her computer, hurrying around the table to hug her brother tightly. He hiccupped into her hair, squeezing her uncomfortably tight. She ignored it, feeling tears prick at her eyes as he sniffled.

“I’m sorry,” he murmured, placing a damp kiss on her forehead. “I just miss you a lot. I miss our family.”

“I know…” She rested her head against his chest, trying to swallow past the lump in her throat. “I know. I miss you too.”

“I’m sorry I made you cry.” Komui squeezed her shoulders lightly, sniffling loudly. “Come on, I still have to make dinner.”

“Yeah…” Wiping her tears away, Lenalee stepped away from her brother, wandering back to her computer. “I love you.”

“I love you too.” The house seemed warmer after the moment passed, and Komui eventually resumed humming. It felt like home for the first time in a long time.

Lenalee opened her computer, hurrying to answer the flurry of messages she had received in her brief absence. Most were from Allen, and from her quick skim, seemed to be more complaining about his family. Two were from Alma.

She scrolled down the conversation, frowning at the messages.

            _-We need to talk_

_-I cleaned up some of the files for you. It’s not good._

She asked them what they meant. It took a moment, but Alma responded.

            _-You’ll see._

Dread formed at the pit of her stomach, the sudden warmth of the room leeching away.  


	7. fifty words for murder (and i'm every one of them)

The end of break threw Lenalee into a tizzy, a massive amount of upcoming due dates cutting her free time down significantly.

She saw Allen a couple of times on campus, and messaged him while working at home, but they weren’t able to get together to discuss Alma’s ominous message until a few weeks later. Finals were looming on the horizon, but they took the weekend to rest and focus on their other problem.

“Alma can’t drop by, but they said they would skype us about the files,” Lenalee said around a mouthful of fries, licking her fingers clean.

Allen plunged a hand into the paper bag, pulling out a burger. The wrappers of previous burgers were littered around him, crinkling lightly as he shifted. “I can’t think of anything too terrible. I mean, it’s not like the ghosts can do anything to you, right?”

“They haven’t done anything, no.” Lenalee sipped at her drink, wiping the condensation on her thigh. “I know they won’t hurt me, but Alma sounded seriously freaked.”

“It’s probably just creepy, that’s all.” Allen said dismissively, rolling his eyes as his drink threatened to tip over. “Seriously? You’re being childish.”

The drink stopped moving, but the bag holding the rest of Allen’s burgers tumbled off the coffee table.  Lenalee laughed, gathering the burgers up. Allen groaned, shoving them back in the bag. “Unbelievable.”

“I know they won’t hurt me,” Lenalee repeated, holding out her fries toward Allen. “I just want to know what’s going on. Why are they here?”

“Maybe they just like you.” Allen shrugged, polishing off his burger, taking a handful of fries. “If I was a ghost I would probably stick around here too.”

“Thanks, I think.”

Lenalee’s computer pinged, the alert for an incoming call going off in the corner of her screen. Lenalee sat up, sliding closer to Allen, answering the call. “Hey!”

The person on the screen waved, the image lagging a few seconds. “Hi, Lenalee. Hi, stranger next to Lenalee.”

“Allen, Alma. Alma, Allen.” Lenalee smiled, pushing the screen back in order to squeeze herself and Allen into the camera frame. “How are you?”

Alma shrugged, smiling exuberantly despite the dark bags under their eyes. “Exhausted. You know how it is. You have your finals yet?”

“Next week.” Lenalee smiled, her knee knocking against Allen’s as she settled back more comfortably. “So. The recordings?”

“Right.” A shadow crossed Alma’s face, and they tapped on their keyboard quickly. “Hold on, give me a second.”

“Sure.” Allen dropped his head on Lenalee’s shoulder, fumbling blindly for another burger. Alma’s face froze for a second, the screen flickering before the video returned to normal.

Alma stared at the screen, brows furrowed, and clicked on something. “Lenalee, do me a favor and tilt your screen up.”

“Um, okay?” She pushed the screen back more, back resting against the couch. “Better?”

Alma laughed, covering their mouth with their hand. “Perfect, yeah. Sorry.”

“What’s so funny?” Allen whispered. Lenalee shrugged.

“Sorry. I’ll show you in a bit. Um, recordings!” Alma whistled softly, clicking on their screen again; at the bottom of Lenalee’s screen a permission for shared files appeared. “Take them. They’re the ones I could clean up properly. The rest were pretty corrupted.”

“Do you know why that was?” Allen asked as Lenalee saved the files on her computer. The folder opened with a handful of files labeled in numerical order.

Alma shook their head, waving a hand absently. “The thing about EVPs is that they’re basically supposed to be like radio signals, which is why they can be picked up by recordings. Supposedly. And spirits are allegedly beings made up of energy. It’s…”

Again, they flapped their hands, sighing. “It’s hard to describe without going into technical terms? And a lot of metaphysical stuff that a lot of people don’t understand or don’t believe in? But it’s like…imagine a spirit is like a magnet. Have you ever held up a magnet to an electronic?”

“Can’t say I have,” Allen said. Lenalee shook her head.

“The magnet damages the electronic components. I think that’s what happened with the recordings. Too much energy corrupted the files. Then again, that’s a very basic way of explaining it.” Alma nodded to themselves, smiling. “It’s old stuff that gets damaged, now that I think about it. Old TVs, recorders, things like that.”

“So we just open them, right?” Lenalee clicked on the first file, waiting for the media player to load. “They’re not very long…”

“EVPs usually aren’t,” Alma said, the player window covering their face. “They’re usually just a couple of words if you’re lucky.”

Allen and Lenalee held their breaths, straining to listen to the audio. There was a burst of static, and then what could generously be described as a croak, barely audible over the white noise. The recording ended, the silence broken by Alma’s absent clicks.

Allen coughed. “I have no idea what it was saying.”

“’Avi’?” Lenalee guessed, playing the audio again. “’Ali?’”

“I think it was a name,” Alma said. There was a rustle of paper from their end. “I wrote a couple of things down that I thought it might be, but it’s pretty subjective. That recording was tough to work out.”

“I heard Robbie, I think,” Allen muttered, leaning in closer to the computer’s speakers. “Robbie or Ronnie. Something like that.”

Lenalee shushed him, straining to catch the words. “…it’s not an o…I think it’s avi. Something avi.”

“Ravi?” Alma read out, paper rustling. “I got…Robbie, Ravi, Lonnie?”

Allen froze, a full-bodied shudder coursing down his spine as he jumped to his feet. “Hold on.”

Lenalee watched him stumble over the piles of junk food, running down the hall. Alma chuckled, crumpling the paper in their hands. “Your friend is adorable.”

“Sometimes he is.”

A muffled cheer echoed down the hall, and Allen scrambled back, flipping over the back of the couch with a worn piece of paper in his hands. “Here! I think I know who it is!”

Lenalee took the flier, wincing when Allen slid off the couch and onto the floor beside her, a wayward elbow connecting with her shoulder. “Ow. Rude.”

“It’s him, it has to be.” Allen grinned, leaning in to read the flier properly. “I remember seeing it a while ago. The name was weird, so it stuck.”

The flier was faded, the ink bleached out of it by the sun. The picture was grainy, the boy in the picture barely visible from the damage. Two things stood out to Lenalee though; the boy’s bright red hair, and his name. “Lavi.”

Allen reached around her, playing the recording again. It matched, or seemed to match. Allen’s cup rattled, though Lenalee wasn’t sure if that was confirmation or not.

“So we’ve got a name.” Alma stretched. “At least of one of them. That’s good.”

“Lavi…” It felt right, somehow. Lenalee clicked on the next file, jumping at the sharp screech of static. Allen winced.

This time, the words came across clearer. “’Sorry…not alone?’ That’s right, right?” Allen asked, tilting his head. “That’s what I heard.”

“Me too,” Alma said. “Look, I have to go soon, but click on the last file. That’s the one I wanted to show you.”

Lenalee nodded, double-clicking on the last marked file. It opened slowly, the soft buzz of white noise filling the room. This file was longer than the others, and took some time before there was any change in the audio. What came out, though, made her blood run cold.

“ _….der….woods….mur….der…in….woods…_ ”

Allen shivered, the color gone from his face. Lenalee imagined she wasn’t any better. Quickly, she closed the window, staring at Alma’s face on the screen. They were solemn, the light of their screen casting an eerie glow on their face. “Like I said. It’s not good.”

“But…we know no one was killed in this house,” Allen protested weakly, scooting closer to Lenalee. “We checked it out.”

Alma closed their eyes. “He said in the woods.”

“There’s no woods around here, it’s all residential areas. Right?” Allen turned to Lenalee, clearly shaken. “Right?”

“There’s…a....well, they’re not _woods_ , exactly,” Lenalee murmured, shivering. “I used to play there a lot when I was little.”

“Kanda and I used to spend a lot of time there,” Alma said, nodding slowly. “I think that’s what it means. It’s still part of your property.”

“It’s…” Allen faltered, squeezing Lenalee’s shoulder. “It’s still got to be a pretty big place, right? It could have happened anywhere.”

“If I were you,” Alma began slowly, clicking on his screen. “If I were you, I wouldn’t poke into this anymore. If…what’s on the recording is true, this might be bigger than just finding out who’s knocking things over.”

Lenalee said nothing, drawing her knees to her chest. The thought of someone being murdered outside her home was terrifying enough, but to think that person was still around, stuck in her house because of it…it made her feel sick. Not to mention, there was still a possible murderer out on the loose.

“There’s…more than one ghost here though, right?” Allen pulled Lenalee close, turning to Alma. “Did you get anything on the other one?”

That seemed to snap Alma out of their funk. They clicked on the screen, sharing another file. “Not from the recordings, no. But I know who it is.”

“How?” Lenalee reached out to accept the file, leaning into Allen for comfort.

Alma just laughed, beaming when the file went through. “You’ll see. Open it up. It took me a bit to clean it up, but I think it’s pretty visible.”

The file turned out to be a screenshot from when they accepted Alma’s call. It had been brightened considerably and zoomed in on. At first, Lenalee couldn’t see anything, but Allen choked on a gasp, tapping the screen.

In the corner, barely visible in the darkness, was a tall figure. He was scowling, the expression familiar from Lenalee’s old pictures. He looked…just like he did before, tall and lanky, long hair gathered up in a ponytail.

Lenalee stared at the picture, dumbfounded. “That’s my brother.”


	8. dress me up and watch me die

 “I think we need to find out who the murderer is.”

Allen choked on his spit, nearly spurting soda through his nose. Lenalee handed him a napkin, trying to look serious. She failed at it, frankly, her smile bright and genuine. “Sorry.”

“You—“ Allen sniffed, thumping on his chest. “You want to go catch a murderer. A _murderer_ who we know has already killed at least one person? Are you out of your mind?”

“They wouldn’t be a murderer if they hadn’t killed someone, Allen.” Lenalee pointed out, brushing her hair out of her face.

Allen reached across the table, squeezing her face between his hands. “You are missing the point.” He hissed, pinching her cheeks. She whined, patting his hands away, and stole his fries for good measure.

“I know we can do it. Lavi can help us.” She sounded so casual about it, like she had it all figured out. Allen gaped at her, stunned into silence.

“Look…” Her smile dimmed, the bags under her eyes more prominent when she looked down. “I know it sounds bad, but…he needs our help. He deserves justice.”

“I know you’re studying criminal justice and all, but you and I are definitely not qualified to tackle a murder investigation.” Just thinking about the situation was starting to give him a headache. “We need to leave this to the professionals.”

“They won’t do much. Lavi was a runaway, remember?” She plucked the flier out of her purse with a flourish, smoothing it out on the table. “He’s been missing for almost a year now. The police won’t prioritize it.”

“We are unexperienced, have absolutely no equipment, and I’m pretty sure going after the person who murdered him might kind of get us, you know, kind of dead? Like him?” She seemed so determined, and knowing how stubborn she was, Allen had to pull out all the stops. “What would Komui say if he knew you were deliberately putting yourself in danger?”

Lenalee scowled, snatching the flier off the table. “What the _fuck_ , Allen? That’s low, even for you.”

“I’m just saying!” He stood, reaching out to grab her hand as she made a move to leave. “Lenalee, you can’t do this!”

“Just watch me.”

Allen groaned, watching her stomp out of the restaurant, flier clenched in her fist. He swore under his breath, grabbing his things and hurrying out after her.

* * *

“Go away, Allen,” Lenalee snapped, fingers wrapped tightly around a flashlight. She had a baseball bat in the other hand, dragging it behind her as she marched towards the tree line behind her house.

“Absolutely not. We don’t need to add to the ghostly population in your house.” Allen trailed after her, hands shoved deep into his pockets. He didn’t have any weapons, and his phone battery was at twenty percent, so he hoped it wouldn’t take too long to find Lavi. If he was even there, of course.

“I hate you.” Lenalee muttered, flicking the flashlight on. The sun had set an hour ago, night closing in around them.

Allen sighed, sticking close. “I know. I love you, though, so you’re stuck with me.”

She grumbled under her breath, flashing the light around the trees, looking for a path. Allen frowned, looking around. “Maybe we should do this during the day?”

“We’re already here.” With that, Lenalee plunged into the underbrush. Bracing himself, Allen followed.

Shrubs grabbed at his legs, hidden roots threatening to trip him. He stumbled after Lenalee, barely visible between the dense trees and bushes, the beam of her flashlight bouncing with every step. “Lena, wait!”

She stopped suddenly, aiming the light in his face. “What?”

Momentarily blinded, Allen stumbled, throwing an arm across his face to shield him from the light. “We need a plan! We can’t just go traipsing through the woods hoping for the best.”

“What do you suggest, Allen?” She still sounded cold, but he preferred that over them stumbling to their deaths. Once he was sure she had lowered the light, he took a second to adjust to the darkness.

“You said Lavi could help us, right?” He braced himself against a tree trunk, blinking the spots away from his eyes. “We can just ask him to lead us to his body, can’t we?”

“We’d have to wait for Alma to clean up the recordings again. It’ll take too long.” She countered. The flashlight in her hands flickered for a moment. Allen shuddered.

“Lenalee, please. I know you want to help him. I’ll help you too! I will, but doing this in the dark with no idea as to what we’re doing isn’t the best way to help him.” He was starting to feel anxious, the cold and dark giving him the chills. It almost felt like someone was watching them, which was not a comforting thought in the present situation.

“Please?” He held his hand out, ignoring the way he shook. It was just the cold getting to him. “Come on, Lena…”

“I just…” She waved the flashlight weakly, shoulders slumping. “He died recently, Allen. It had to have been recent. He only started haunting me a few months ago. He died in my back yard, basically, and he was alone. Just thinking about it makes me feel awful.”

“I know…” Lenalee shook her head, beam bouncing across the trees.

“No, you don’t get it. I was probably in my house, less than 100 yards away. He died alone and…no one should have to do that. Have to live out their last moments scared and alone. N-not in the woods and not on some abandoned road. It shouldn’t have to be like that.” Her voice cracked, and she sniffled softly.

Allen had the sinking feeling this wasn’t all about Lavi anymore. “Is that what happened to your brother?”

Lenalee rarely opened up about what had happened. Allen assumed it was only because she had been too young to remember. Lenalee cleared her throat, swallowing thickly. “He…Yuu was in a car crash. A drunk driver hit him on the way home and sped off. It was a back road, a short cut home, so…you know. By time paramedics arrived, he was gone.”

“You know they’re not haunting you because they were alone, right?” Allen walked over, pulling Lenalee into a hug. She snuffled into his shoulder, fisting his shirt under her hands. “This isn’t your fault. Not Lavi, and not your brother.”

“I just want to help. That’s all. It’s not fair they had to die. The least I can do is help them.” He felt hot tears sink into his shirt, and squeezed her tight as her shoulder shook under him.

Lenalee was strong and stubborn and brighter than anyone Allen knew. It was easy to forget how vulnerable she was. She cared so much for people, even those that had passed on, that every case became personal. It was no wonder she had become so invested in the ghosts in her home.

“Lena…I’m sorry about what I said,” Allen whispered, rubbing her back soothingly. “It was low of me. But we need to be rational about this. I know it’s your brother, and I know you’re taking Lavi’s case personally, but we can’t just go in guns blazing.”

“The longer we wait, the longer his killer stays free. He could be out there right now going after someone else.” Her grip tightened on his shirt, and her small body shook in his arms. Her outrage was almost palpable.

“We’ll do something.” It felt like a hollow promise on Allen’s lips – what could a couple of students do against a murderer? – but they had both come this far. It seemed only right to see it through “Let’s just go back to your house and work something out, alright?”

Lenalee nodded, loosening her grip on him. She dragged the back of her hand across her eyes, wiping the tears away. “Yeah, okay. Let’s go…”

Allen turned back the way they came (or was it? He was always shit at directions) and started walking, Lenalee’s flashlight vaguely cutting through the darkness. The cold got worse, a sharp wind cutting through his clothes, sinking into his bones.

“I’m not sure if this is the right way,” he admitted, stopping under a larger tree. His battery had died a while back, and Lenalee’s flashlight kept flickering. She peered at the gloom nervously, slapping the flashlight with her palm to steady the beam.

“If we keep walking, there’s gotta be a way out somewhere, right?” She turned, flashlight held loosely in her grip, and started walking. Allen followed, rubbing his arms to get his circulation going.

They picked their way through prickly shrubs for another while longer, struggling to find a path. The wind whistled above them, rattling the branches, but the only other sounds were their footsteps crunching through the dead leaves below.

“Watch out, there’s roots,” Lenalee warned, stepping carefully over a small hedge. Allen followed. He stepped on what he assumed was a branch, wincing at the sharp crack as it gave under his weight. Lenalee frowned, walking back towards him. “You okay?”

“Yeah, just stepped on something…” The words died in his throat as Lenalee shone the light through the bush.

His brain struggled to wrap around the sight in front of him. It wasn’t a branch, he thought belatedly, a small ‘oh’ slipping from his lips as Lenalee slowly moved the light up.

A patch of bright red, matted and dirtied from exposure to the elements but still very much red, caught his attention, though he couldn’t see much else. Lenalee’s hand was shaking so badly it was hard to tell what they were looking at, exactly.

“Oh,” he repeated again, sounding very far away. Someone screamed.

A very, very small part of him was glad they didn’t have to figure out a way to find Lavi’s body, and marveled at the fact that he had sort of found them.  


End file.
